New Zealand North Island
Once again I left Antarctica and arrived in Christchurch at 12:00AM. I booked a few nights at the hotel to get some rest and then a week in Christchurch to enjoy a relaxing week and finalize all my plans and reservations.
During the week I went to all my favorite places to eat, stocked up last minute gear needs and caught up on quite a bit of Netflix. I also spent a good chunk of my days going over my itinerary and booking flights, campsites, and campervan.
Day 1
Since my focus was on the North Island this visit, I woke up early to get to the airport for my flight to Aukland. Once I landed my first stop was the Campervan rental. I chose to go with Escape rentals because they are a good price and were super helpful and nice on my previous visit the year before. They have some newer vans with upgraded features that I went with such as refrigerators over chilly bins, drive smoother and seemed to have much better fuel efficiency. The staff once again were super helpful getting me familiar with the van and offering any tips I may need for my journey. Once I tossed my luggage in the back I went shopping at The Warehouse and the local grocery store.
I like to stock up on good driving snacks and some food for the next few days. Cans of soup are quick easy meals to heat up at camp and some fresh fruits and vegetables. I grabbed mostly grapes and tomatoes to snack on while driving but I also like to try out different types of chips and candies what we do not have in the US.
It was raining pretty heavy but I made good time heading to Te Henga beach, Muriwai Gannet Colony, and then to Kauri Coast for camp. Once at camp, I organized all my gear and food to make the next days easy while I cooked up a steak and veggies for dinner.
Day 2
Today was a lot of driving, but I still managed to fit a few stops in along the way.
Stop one was in the Waipoua Forest where I walked to see Tane Mahout and Te Matua. These trees are huge! It was interesting learning about how they reproduce and some of the history surrounding them.
Stop two was to the Te Paki Sand Dunes. These giant dunes were fun to walk out onto. Dunes are pretty strenuous to hike up so once I got away from the initial crowd up one of the large dunes I had all the views to myself. It was pretty warm and sunny out but the wind on the dunes made it easy to cool off under the passing clouds.
Stop three was at the Cape Reigna Lighthouse. The views were great and worth the walk down the paved hill to the lighthouse.
After the lighthouse I went to camp to rest up and get ready for a short hike the next day.
Day 3
Today I hikes the Wairakau/Dukes Nose Trail. It was a pretty easy trail with a few trouble some spots. There were two water crossings and some mud to get through. I made a small miscalculation and ended up slipping into knee deep in a stream and had to drain out my leather hiking boots and finish the day in soggy squishy boots and socks. The final section of the trail was a steep scramble up some boulders. There is a metal rail to assist and it wasn’t all that bad once you see the best path up. The views were great at the top and it would have been a great spot to eat a sandwich that I forgot in the fridge in the camper van. After a few snacks and photos I hiked back, checked into camp and had my sandwich and some soup.
Day 4
It was a short driving day so I took my time at camp and made breakfast. I was also trying to air out my now smelly and still wet hiking boots as much as I could. I drove to my next camping spot at Waipu Caves. These are free glow worm caves and a free campsite with a bathroom. I had some lunch and did a little reading and a short nap before going into the caves. It was a very short walk from the van to the caves. Once I got into the caves I started looking for the glow worms. The caves have a lot of shallow water in them in the front and it’s very dark inside once you get away from the entrance. You can see rocks and logs used to get around the cave without getting your feet wet but once I saw where the worms were, I went back out to the van to switch up some gear. I came back with flip flops and shorts and just accepted that I was going to get a little wet. With my tripod and feet in the water it was easy to get some nice shots of the glowworms. It would have been nice to get longer exposure but the caves had just enough traffic that some family would light up the whole cave only to find me standing alone in the dark. It was a little creepy standing in the dark and water waiting for my camera to do its thing when there was no one else in the cave. After a while I was feeling more comfortable and adventurous. I saw there was another cavern deeper in the cave that I thought might be a better spot without any people. To get there I had to crouch over and shuffle under a 4 foot roof. The water was moving faster and louder as I went back and got deep enough that I couldn’t see the bottom or what I was stepping on. There was a hidden ledge along the side but after the edge I couldn’t feel the bottom when trying to step down. Once in the cavern there weren’t as many glow worms as I was hoping and you could hear the water falling down into another cavern and it was pretty loud. I spent a few minuets seeing it it was worth staying or exploring but ultimately decided to head back tot he main area. At this point I my shorts were also wet and It was much colder in this area and most of all more creepy. I generally don’t like to venture into too many conditions were I could slip or break a leg and not be able to ask for help. I didn’t see any of the other tourist venture back there. The risk and lack of glowworms made it a simple choice. I went out of the cave to relax and warm up and made a few other trips back in to try different lenses and set ups. I thought I would venture back into the cave at night when everyone else camping had gone to sleep and do some longer exposures but It started raining a lot and got pretty chilly so I went to sleep and slept pretty good through the night and decided to get the rest while I could.
Day 5
I had plans for a hike but the weather was getting pretty rough. Very windy and rainy all day making some roads have a lot of moving water and traffic. Once I got to camp I chose to have a reset day of laundry and some reading. It rain continued to pour down and made cooking my dinner a bit miserable.
Day 6
Started out with more rain but I drove over to Hahei and walked around town a bit before I could check into my campsite. I stopped for a nice breakfast and then checked into my campsite. The rain eventualy stopped and I did some relaxing and walked the beach some. Cathedral cove was closed from all the rain so it was another relaxing night.
Day 7
I woke up and grabbed a coffee nearby and edited photos in the van until some friends came to town. There were on a vacation from the US and we had some dates of overlap on the North Island. Once they got into town Cathedral Cove had reopened and we made the log walk over. It had warmed up a good amount and was a beautiful day compared to my mostly rainy trip so far. Once back, they checked into their spot at the campground and we went for some burgers and walked the beach a bit before calling it a night.
Day 8
My friends and I drove from Hahei to Hobbiton for a lunch tour. The tour was informative but very crowded and touristy. The food was pretty good so it was something different to fill the day, especially for Lord of the Rings fans. After the tour we all ended up in Cambridge for the night
Day 9
My Friends and I took off from Cambridge early to make to our early Glow Worm tour at Spellbound. We picked this tour because they seemed to be less crowded and allowed cameras (woo). The guide was very informative of the area and the glow worms and It made it a lot of fun. I didn’t try to take many photos because other people in the group were slow walkers and we were running behind. After the tour my friends went their own way and I headed closer to the airport to return the van and catch my flight back to the South Island.
Day 10
I had the next week booked in an Airbnb because I wanted some down time to just do nothing but relax and eat good food for a while before flying home to see family during the holiday. The details are unimportant but Christchurch is a great city to walk around with great places to eat. After my week I started my long flight back home and my second trip to New Zealand was over. I still have a few places on my list to see but am glad I was able to fit so much in the two trips I have made so far.
